Baby Steps

2

He jumped to his feet and she shook slightly at the sudden movement.
"Why do you think you can do this?" His voice was soft and lacked the anger she'd anticipated.
"This is not something you can do on your own, more importantly, it shouldn't be something you want to do on your own." He took a deep breath his arms shaking slightly.
"When mum was still here it was just her. For every minute of every day. My dad did nothing and you know exactly what he's like now. I don't ever want to be like that. Like him," he took another deep breath and stretched his arms. "So please, please don't act like you're in this alone, okay?"
Amelia looked at him with wide eyes that threatened to burst with tears. She nodded slowly her head feeling far too heavy for her shoulders to carry. She blinked, quickly dropping her head as she felt the tears slid down her cheeks. She wasn't crying, she was too old for that.
Luke sat down on the arm and wrapped his arms around her. She twisted, finding immediate comfort from the warmth in his chest. She let the tears spill out; slow and steady at first before gushing from her eyes like a dam's wall being broken.
"Luke I'm scared," her voice was muffled by the fabric of his shirt but she only buried her head further into his chest. "How are we going to do this?"
Luke strained his neck to kiss the top of her head. "Don't worry, we'll figure it out. No one really knows what they're doing," he chuckled, trying to ease the tension that was building on them in waves.
"You'll be a brilliant mother," he whispered, more so to himself than Amelia.
She smiled into his chest her grip on him growing slightly tighter. They stayed like that for some time, their breathing aiding the comfortable silence they'd settled into. Luke pulled away slowly, and lifted Amelia's chin for their eyes to meet.
"I have to go now," he moved to kiss her forehead but she grabbed his collar and pulled him down to her mouth.
There was a pause as the shock wore off and then he was kissing her. He remembered her taste and the touch of her skin, her lips and the softness of them. He pulled her closer; deepening the kiss. She smiled and pulled away.
"Just make sure you come back later okay?" Her breath ghosted over his lips.
"Of course," he kissed her once more before standing up and leaving.
Amelia smiled as she looked back towards the door.  She went up stairs feeling slightly giddy her head filled with Luke.
He stood outside not wanting to increase the gap between himself and Amelia by retreating back to his house. He glanced up towards her bedroom window and caught her outline stood in front of the mirror. He smiled,"I've finally got her back."
Luke
I couldn't breathe. The stench of his alcohol still hung around my room. He liked to drink in here when I was out, several times he'd asked me to join him and my answer of no was always countered with a fresh line of bruises along my back. Being away from him over summer, had given my bruises time to heal before he could form new ones, and had given me a peace of mind.  My cousins knew I was lonely here. I'd been lonely ever since mum died, and I hadn't seen much of them afterwards. This summer they offered to take me in; said I didn't have to live with that poor excuse for a father anymore and I was thankful for such a chance. But I came back. I perched on the edge of the window and ran my hands over the curtains, my thumb stopping on the stain. It was hardly visible anymore but it took a lot of washes and scrubbing to get it here. I screwed my eyes shut. Where was I? Oh yes . . . I came back, for Amy and the baby. I never deleted the voicemail and whilst I was away I listened to it twice a day maybe more. She called me the day I left, probably praying that it'd go to voicemail and when it did, left her message. She was pregnant and I was going to be a father but for the time being she didn't want to talk to me. I took a deep breath. But it was better now, because we'd finally talked and we were going to get through it together.